Church leaders have used their Easter messages to appeal for peace on the planet.
The interim head of the Church of England, Archbishop Stephen Cottrell, said God’s peace was needed on this world as he referenced conflicts in Gaza, Ukraine, Myanmar, Sudan and the DRC.
He said that this peace was “so needed in a troubled world, a world that’s so at risk of losing its moorings from that set of values that come from Jesus Christ”.
These values were “so precious, so essential and so easily lost”, the Archbishop said.
“Values of trust and compassion which bind us, one to a different the world over and across barriers of difference. Without the peace of Christ our Risen Saviour, we’re adrift. We are all at sea,” he said.
“We need this peace. In our homes. In our streets. In our world. In Israel and Gaza. In Ukraine. In Myanmar. In Sudan. In the DRC.
“In all of the places of conflict that convulse our world – and against the madness of a world which ‘others’ others, drives wedges between communities, breeds hatred and promotes greed.”
At the Vatican, a frail-looking Pope Francis delivered his Easter Urbi et Orbi message to cheering crowds in St Peter’s Square.
He spoke briefly to the crowds before handing his text to Archbishop Diego Ravelli to read on his behalf.
In it, the Pope called for peace worldwide and global disarmament.
Turning his attention to the Holy Land, he said it had been “wounded by conflict” and an “limitless outburst of violence”.
He prolonged his closeness to the people of Gaza, including Christians who’ve remained there in the course of the conflict, and called for the discharge of the remaining Israeli hostages, in addition to access to humanitarian aid.
He lamented that “the terrible conflict continues to cause death and destruction and to create a dramatic and deplorable humanitarian situation”.
“I appeal once more for a right away ceasefire within the Gaza Strip, for the discharge of the hostages … and for access to humanitarian aid,” he said.
This 12 months’s Easter is unusual in that each Eastern and Western Christians are celebrating it on the identical date.
In most years, the dates on which they mark Easter diverge.
